[D Prime]

Hi All,

I’ve been playing a character for a while. He’s a sniper adept, and has been pretty effective but I’m not sure how best to advance him. Here’re his stats:

Attributes (pre-Adept powers):
Body 4
Agility 6
Reaction 6
Strength 3
Willpower 5
Logic 2
Intuition 4
Charisma    
Magic 6
Edge 3

Skills (pre-Adept powers):
Blades 5 (Knives)
Longarms 6 (Sniper Rifles)

Gymnastics 2
Perception 4
Running 1
Sneaking 4
Swimming 1
Tracking 2

Armorer 1
Computer 1
First Aid 1
Locksmith 2
Navigation 1

Pilot Ground Craft 2 (Bike)

Arcana 1
Assensing 3
Astral Combat 5 (Weapon Focus)

Qualities (All Negative)
Distinctive Style (Big bear-claw scar on his face, wears helmet in socially inappropriate situations)
Insomnia 1
Prejudice (biased against non-humans)
SINner (CAS National SIN)

Adept Powers
Combat Sense 3
Critical Strike (Blades)
Improved Ability (Longarms) 1
Improved Reflexes 3

Foci
Weapon Focus 1 (a combat knife)
Qi Focus 4, Astral Perception (the big scar on his face)

Things have been working out pretty well for this guy. In combat, he tends to go first (13+4d6 initiative), he hits hard (15 or 16 dice with his hunting rifle for 12P, AP -8 attacks) and mostly avoids getting hit back with 16 defense dice. His weapon focus combat knife (14 dice, 6P, AP -3 ) makes a solid secondary weapon and can deal with astral threats. He has decent perception skills, and his high reaction makes him a pretty good driver.

The rest of the party consists of a street samurai/face, a decker, a magician/face, and a mystic adept.

Anyway, I’ve got some karma to burn and I was wondering if anybody had advice on how to spend it. I have enough to initiate and already spent 2 karma to get that one rank of Arcana (I read an “Arcana for Dummies” book). After spending that, I’ve got another 15 karma to play with.

Does initiation seem like a good move, here? I was thinking I would use it to get another power point and buy Improved Physical Attribute (Agility), which would boost a lot of skills and is a lot cheaper than advancing agility "naturally" (or advancing any of those skills naturally, for that matter). But it feels like such a bland way to spend my initiation.

[ZeConster]

I recommend Initiating a few times (Power Point, Power Point, Adept Centering sounds like a good plan), and get 2 more ranks of Improved Ability (Longarms), Enhanced Accuracy (Longarms), and 1 rank of Attribute Boost (Agility) (a Simple Action will typically net you +2 Agility - for dice roll purposes only - for 4 Combat Turns, and it's more PP-efficient than Improved Physical Attribute (Agility), plus the Drain Value is only 1).
This way, after a Simple Action for Attribute Boost you'll typically have Agility 6(8*) and Longarms (Sniper Rifles) 9(+2), so 19 dice.

[D Prime]

Oh, I've been misreading Attribute Boost. It is significantly better than I thought. For now, I think I'll Initiate and spend my shiny new Power Point on Attribute Boost I, another rank of Improved Ability (Longarms), and Improved Accuracy (Longarms)

[Michael Chandra]

You mean Agility Boost I? You pay for each type of Attribute Boost separately.

[ZeConster]

You mean Agility Boost I? You pay for each type of Attribute Boost separately.

That's Attribute Boost [Agility], Michael.

[Michael Chandra]

Eh. Sounds better this way. And you forgot the rank. ^_^